A new 25-story apartment tower in Midtown was approved by Metro Council members Thursday night, after the developer withdrew a zoning change request to allow the units to be used as short-term vacation rentals.

The 360-unit building will replace Taco Bell at West End Avenue and 20th Avenue North, near Vanderbilt University.

During a December public hearing on the plans, several residents spoke out against having an influx of new vacation rentals in the neighborhood. A few blocks away, Stay Alfred manages short-term rentals in The Dallas on Elliston apartment building.

“We’re starting to see more developers making sure the short-term rental use is specified as being allowed,” resident Omid Yamini said. “To me, that shows a lack of confidence in the housing market. That’s alarming. I would really advocate for housing built to be used for actual residents.”

CA Ventures, the Chicago-based developer, partnered with fellow Chicago company AJ Capital Partners on the deal.

Councilman Ed Kindall, whose district includes the address, announced at Thursday's meeting that they agreed to withdraw short-term rentals from the request.

A rendering of the proposed 25-story tower for short-term rentals and apartments at 2004 and 2012 West End Avenue(Photo: Metro Government of Nashville)

AJ Capital is developing the 12-story Graduate Hotel next door. The company also bought the Taco Bell lot in 2017 where the tower will be built for $7.6 million.

But CA Ventures, which also owns the office tower at 1801 West End known as Palmer Plaza, is developing the building, a company official said. The Tennessean will move its downtown offices to Palmer Plaza in the spring.

A wide, red-brick podium will make up the first five stories, according to design plans. That will be topped with a skinnier 20-story glassy tower.

"The podium was designed to create a continuous safe and vibrant streetscape from a pedestrian standpoint," said Sean Witty, the project's architect with Solomon Cordwell Buenz. "The West End tower will seek to reinforce the quality of the neighborhood."

Street-facing shops and restaurants, and 430 parking stalls, are also included in plans for the building at 2004 and 2012 West End Avenue.

The apartments will be small in order to keep the rent down, said CA Ventures Director of Development Ryan Sadowy.

"We crafted these to be efficient, smaller units ..." Sadowy said. "We really feel like this project is the right project for the space."